The push for Gun Appreciation Day is similar to Chick-fil-A Appreciation Day and other similar "counter-protests" staged by conservative groups recently. A spokesman for the Second Amendment Foundation does a fantastic job of sounding both paranoid and mildly threatening speaking with The Washington Post about the motivation for the frightful festivities:

It seems half a million people may have made good on their promise to eat at Chick-fil-A yesterday…
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"We need to ban politicians who assault our rights, not firearms that are used thousands of times a day to protect lives and property from criminal attack," said Alan Gottlieb of the Second Amendment Foundation.

In addition to guns, "patriots" are encouraged to bring their American flags, Constitution and a "'Hands off my Guns' sign." Phrasing like this is one of the most common tricks in the conservatives' wheelhouse: changing a debate from liberals vs. conservatives to traitors vs. patriots.